Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has dismissed suggestions of cabinet divisions over the controversial Medicare co-payment as "a complete and utter beat up."
Speculation of a split within government was fuelled on Thursday when senior ministers including Treasurer Joe Hockey, Senate leader Eric Abetz and Health Minister Peter Dutton publicly recommitted to the fee on visits to the doctor, despite a number of media reports suggesting the government would dump the policy, based on background briefings from the Prime Minister's office.
Campaigning with Victorian Premier Denis Napthine in Melbourne on Friday, Ms Bishop denied there was any disagreement in cabinet over the Medicare changes.
"No, not at all. That's a story that is a complete and utter beat up," she said.
"The Prime Minister and the Treasurer meet every morning. I know because I'm there. And every morning we've been discussing our policies and our plans to get our budget measures through the Senate. We are committed to the co-payment. It's government policy because it makes sense and Labor knows it does because they... introduced a co-payment for the PBS. And if a co-payment is necessary to support the PBS, it's necessary to support Medicare. That's our policy."
As things stand, the Coalition lacks sufficient crossbench support to pass legislation for the co-payment in the Senate.
While Mr Dutton has said legislation is necessary to introduce the co-payment proposal announced in the May budget, ministers have refused to rule out getting around the Senate by using regulation to make other changes.
